Now is a good time to do a bit of a refresher on the signs of heat with all staff or family working on the farm. It’s a critical time of year as every missed heat costs €250. Top up the tail paint at least twice a week to keep it fresh. Check bulling cows in the field at milking times, in between milkings and late in the evening and keep accurate records.
Farmers using a technician service should print off the weekly fertility report from ICBF to see how they are performing. Farmers doing DIY AI can do the same if they upload service data regularly. The target is to get 90% submitted in the first 24 days. This means you should be serving 3.75% of the herd per day.
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Work out how many cows you should be serving in a week and assess whether you are on target or not. If not, ask yourself why. Are you missing heats or is it low body condition score, not enough time since calving, or poor nutrition?
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Now is a good time to do a bit of a refresher on the signs of heat with all staff or family working on the farm. It’s a critical time of year as every missed heat costs €250. Top up the tail paint at least twice a week to keep it fresh. Check bulling cows in the field at milking times, in between milkings and late in the evening and keep accurate records.
Farmers using a technician service should print off the weekly fertility report from ICBF to see how they are performing. Farmers doing DIY AI can do the same if they upload service data regularly. The target is to get 90% submitted in the first 24 days. This means you should be serving 3.75% of the herd per day.
Work out how many cows you should be serving in a week and assess whether you are on target or not. If not, ask yourself why. Are you missing heats or is it low body condition score, not enough time since calving, or poor nutrition?
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